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NEW YORK — With smartwatches drawing lukewarm interest from most consumers, some technology
companies are trying a fresh approach: market them to kids.

LG Electronics, VTech Holdings and Filip Technologies have developed high-tech watches for
children, undaunted by the slow progress the industry has made in pitching the devices to
adults.

They’re betting that kids might be the ideal market for the gadgets, which can either keep tykes
entertained or track their whereabouts. The watches can even teach an old-fashioned skill: how to
tell time.

Although only about one in five adults has interest in buying a smartwatch, models for children
might be an easier sell, said Benjamin Arnold, an analyst at NPD Group Inc. They are typically
cheaper, and versions that can track children have obvious appeal to parents who live in fear of
losing small kids at a park or shopping mall. At the same time, the technology has drawn criticism
for adding another electronic distraction.

“It’s on their body — it’s like they can’t get away from it,” said Tovah Klein, director of the
Barnard College Center for Toddler Development in New York City. “It’s going to be much harder for
parents to set boundaries and limits.”

VTech’s Kidizoom smartwatch, which goes on sale in the U.S. this month, is designed to entertain
kids without being overwhelming. The $60 device doesn’t connect to Wi-Fi or cellular networks, and
it has a limited number of applications. That puts it in a category apart from devices from Samsung
Electronics or Apple, which is said to be working on a smartwatch.

The idea was to make something that’s easy for a child to use, especially for taking photos or
videos, said William To, Hong Kong-based VTech’s president of North America.

“This is purely designed for the child’s fun,” he said. “It’s educational, wholesome play.”

Other companies are focused more on the communication and location-tracking features than
entertainment. LG is to roll out a watch called the KizOn in its home country, South Korea, this
month. The device, aimed at preschool and grade-school kids, uses the global positioning system and
Wi-Fi to pinpoint the wearer’s whereabouts. It’s slated to be unveiled in the U.S. and Europe later
this year at an undetermined price.

“Children, as well as the elderly, are ideal customers for wearable technologies,” Jong-seok
Park, head of LG’s Mobile Communications Co., said in a statement. “Wearables allow us to stay
connected without the worry of losing a device or the inconvenience of having to carry a large item
in a pocket.”

LG is targeting a market pioneered by Filip, a company that was founded in 2010 by Sten Kirkbak
after he lost track of his son at the mall. Parents can program five contacts into the Filip watch,
and an accompanying iOS or Android app on the parent’s phone can locate the child. Like the KizOn,
which also can call preconfigured numbers, the device doesn’t give kids the full capabilities of a
regular phone.

“If you look at the entire population — the one group that is not connected today is kids,” said
Jonathan Peachey, chief executive officer of New York City-based Filip. “That’s crazy. Kids want to
go out and explore, be with friends, and travel to and from school on their own without having to
worry about how to reach their parents.”

Parents see a clear need for the Filip, while consumers are confused about the purpose of an
adult smartwatch, Peachey said. “There are probably no parents who haven’t experienced losing track
of their child,” he said.

The capabilities of the Filip come at a price, though. It costs $200, plus $10 per month for the
service. That puts it in the same ballpark as a Samsung smartwatch, which can retail for $200 to
$300. The Kidizoom, because it lacks a mobile connection, doesn’t have a recurring fee. Future
generations of the VTech watch could add features depending on demand, the company said.

Amy Stellitano, a 37-year-old nurse from New York, is one mom who doesn’t plan to buy an
entertainment-based smartwatch. Her 16-year-old son has enough electronics as it is, she said.

“It’s just one more thing,” Stellitano said while shopping at a Best Buy store. “When I grew up,
we didn’t have all this stuff.”

A device focused on location tracking might have been appealing when her son was younger,
though, she said. “Because you never know, especially in New York.”

As of last month, revenue from smartwatches has totaled less than $100 million since October,
although the market is expected to grow this year, according to NPD, based in Port Washington,
N.Y.

The Pebble watch is one of the nascent industry’s highest-profile products, born out of the most
successful project started out of the Kickstarter fundraising site. Still, it remains a niche
product: a $150 to $249 device that people mostly use to see messages on their phones. Services and
applications for adult smartwatches need to improve before the industry can gain momentum, Arnold
said. Most people aren’t clear on why they would even need one.

“It’s a product that we don’t yet have a problem for,” Arnold said. “It’s hard for me as a
consumer to justify spending $300 to $350 on a device that tells me what’s going on with my
phone."

New product developments might help make the technology more popular, he said. In that vein,
Google Inc. unveiled smartwatches at an event last month, working with device manufacturers such as
Samsung and LG. Apple, the maker of the iPhone, also is exploring a smartwatch, people familiar
with the plans have said. Trudy Muller, a spokeswoman for Apple, didn’t respond to a request for
comment.

Although a minority of consumers are interested in a smart watch, more enthusiasm is coming from
younger people, according to an NPD study on wearable technology. Among 16- to 24-year-olds, 30
percent say they are interested in buying such a product, while 25 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds
are.

That suggests there might be less resistance to smartwatches in the future, which will filter
down to the kids’ market, Peachey said.

“The more smartwatches that exist, the more that kids will see their parents come home with them
on their wrist,” he said. “And the more that kids will want them as well.”

The typical 8- to 18-year-old American spends seven-plus hours a day using electronic devices,
according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report.

For parents, the challenge is striking a balance between that insatiable appetite for technology
and the need for kids to think on their own, said Deborah Linebarger, associate professor of
education at the University of Iowa. A smartwatch that functions purely as a tracking device could
be beneficial by giving parents peace of mind and encouraging kids to play outside, she said.

“I don’t feel like we have to constantly entertain children,” Linebarger said. “There’s a real
benefit to kids spending time being bored and figuring things out.”